Curt

Honestly not understanding some of your points. You are now saying: We can afford more good players than the Leafs because our contract situations are better? Yeah, that was my whole point. The additional stuff you say about those additional good players in addition to the top 5, still ending up costing a lot of money…….yeah, good players are going to cost money, and all the cap space is going to get used up. That’s what happens. All the money gets spent. That’s what we want. You also keep saying this line about everyone being an optimistic and assuming that the team will be good. That means absolute nothing. It’s not an actionable sentiment. I want the Sabres to make good decisions that will give them the best chance of being good. If it doesn’t work out, then the cap hits don’t really matter much. I certainly don’t want them to not spend money because there is a possibility that they might not end up being good. Spend when it makes sense. The chips will fall where they will. I agree with you about making a couple trades to bring in help nowish/soon. I think they need to do something before next season. It was Tim Murray, and I actually think that because of the amount of talent that has developed on the NHL, most people are beyond that thinking of worrying about Tim Murraying it.

I do remember that story. I don’t remember it specifically being a partially dislocated shoulder though. I recall a story after the fact that the staff at Minnesota recognized a misalignment of some sort affecting his shoulder that they were able to correct, then he was able to do several pull-up immediately afterwards. To be honest, the story always reeked of damage control to me, but who knows. The real reason that I didn’t mention it though was because I don’t care at all whether a hockey player is good at pullups. It’s irrelevant.

Regarding pull ups specifically. I bet if Mitts had weighed 160 back then he would have been able to do more. I think he was like 190+ even at 17. He was always pretty thick in the lower half, which is exactly what you want for hockey. Pull up ability depends even more on your weight, especially lower body weight, than strength. In my early-mid 20’s I didn’t work out that much but I could still consistently do 15+ pullups. I used to 20+ at my peak. It wasn’t because I was exceptionally strong. I wasn’t. It was because I didn’t weigh anything. I was like 5’11” 155. I guarantee that 17 year old Casey who couldn’t do a pull up was way stronger than 22 year me who could do 20. Pull ups just aren’t very relevant to hockey.

I think about the cap as much as anyone, but you are honest way overstating this as an issue. Having their top 5 players locked up at around $40M for the next several years is a good cap position. It’s not an abnormally large amount. It’s difficult to find a good team this year that has their top 5 for less than 40 (there are a couple, but not many). A few years from now that $40M for a top 5 would actually be an asset, not a hindrance. It has been an issue for Toronto the past few years, but do you know what they have actually been paying their guys? Their top 5 has been making $48M for the past few years. Compare that to what the Sabres are looking at. ~$40M for the next several years as the cap rises sharply. The two situations really are not in the same ballpark. Before you continue to repeat this position over and over, please look closely at the cap #s of other team’s top 5. Go look at all the good teams. How many of them actually have their top 5 for less than $40M? How many of them project to maintain that for the next several years?

Personally, I say sign him. He doesn’t need to be an overpaid 3C. He (or Cozens) can play on the wing when it makes sense. It doesn’t destroy the salary structure if he signs a contract that matches Thompson and Cozens’.

I’m not sure why it would be any more likely the happen with Mitts than any other soon to be RFA. In fact the situations are pretty dissimilar and I think it’s pretty unlikely that holding out would ever make sense for Mittelstadt. If Mitts really just wanted to maximize his income, he would either sign a 2 year deal, or force arbitration and get himself to UFA. He isn’t going to go through all the circus of holding out when he has other options. Thats the main way the situation differs from the Nylander situation. Nylander was only 22-23 with 2.5 NHL seasons under his belt when he held out. He wasn’t arbitration eligible.

I saw that this was released and was intrigued. My kids aren’t quite old enough yet to get something like this, but I’d be interested in what anyone has to say about it.

Biro’s injury? Got to be either a case of broken heart or butt hurt.

It’s simultaneously “let’s trade for other team’s best players” season, and “we don’t have room for other team’s best players“ season. A rare time indeed.

Yeah, always liked him as a draft prospect. Glad that he looks to have recovered from a very scary Covid illness.

I like the idea of making a trade for a proven really good player, but he really does match the profile of a player type that the Sabres already have excess of. He is also on the books at a high number for 5 years after this season. So, while I like the general idea, I don’t think he is the right target for this team.

Because, they think it’s better for R Johnson to play games in Rochester until needed versus sitting on the bench in Buffalo? Just guessing.

Trump tapped into a certain type of charismatic populism that drew in people who were looking for something different, Vivek seems like he is trying to ride that same wave, but Trump has such a grip on his base that Vivek isn’t going to gain a foothold. At least not anytime soon.

Same

This is all perfectly reasonable. I don’t really disagree. My points were were mostly just weighing in on whether the Sabres could afford to pay Mitts long term. They can, but you could definitely be right that it’s not the ideal roster mix. One other thing I’ll say regarding this is that the Sabres may view Cozens as someone who can do some of this shutdown C type role in the future. I think he has the physicality and mindset to do it. He definitely isn’t there yet though. How much of that is a conscious game plan decision to play a transition offense game as opposed to a defense focused game, I’m not sure.

It is as worth it.

Forgive me if I overstep by picking at your inner feelings, but I don’t think it’s really the 1st bolded that bothers you. Both Ottawa and Detroit spent to the cap before they were any good and you liked it. I think it’s actually the second bolded that bothers you. You want more hard nosed players. That’s fine, I don’t entirely disagree. I do think it can be done by bringing in a couple more Greenway/Clifton/E Johnson type of additions though. Guys who are affordable and fill a role. I don’t really ASSUME that they will be a great team, but that’s the hope, right. That’s what we plan for. If it doesn’t happen for this group, the group will get blown up at some point. These guys don’t have NTCs. So if they fail and the group changes significantly, then any cap projections are out the window. I can only project based upon what is here now. If it makes you feel any better, the Sabres shouldn’t be tight to the cap next season either, based on the players who are currently in the organization. If they are, it will be because they spent $8M+ on players coming in from the outside.

Capfriendly didn’t have Dadonov’s NTC. They usually get all the contract details, but not always. It was Ottawa’s responsibility to inform Vegas, and they negligently did not.

1) The cap margins will be small, because they eventually are for any decent team. 2) By the time Quinn, Peterka, Levi, or anyone younger than that really need to be paid, not only will the cap be more than $10M higher, but Skinner will also be off the books. It will be possible to have like 4-5 other players on $6M+ long term contracts, in addition to Thompson, Cozens, Dahlin, and Power. 3) Yup, the 4th line money will probably have to be minimal, but that’s true of pretty much any team that’s been decent for a while. It’s a choice, just like anything else. If you give Mitts a $7M 6 yr contract, yeah, maybe (MAYBE) that forces you to trade someone 4-5 years from now, but if Mitts is worth it, then I just don’t care. Any team that has too many good players comes to points like that. If the Sabres get good, that’s an inevitability. What’s the alternative? Trade away your good players before they need to get paid because of a hypothetical cap crunch 4-5 years down the road?

It’s not true. The money could still work long term.

Maybe, but he doesn’t right now.

I say this in good faith, but….prove it. If the best way for Benson to get better is to get stronger, then is it more beneficial for him to play 25 mins per game against junior players, or to spend a lot of extra time working out and also practicing and training with pro players and trainers? I don’t think the answer is obviously that it’s better for him to be in juniors.

I think it’s all a farce honestly. This trial run and “injury” will allow him to hang around the NHL team receiving pro instruction and working out like mad to build much needed strength. Then he maybe does a couple games AHL rehab stint, goes to WJCs and then maybe to juniors. Isnt it kind of suspicious that Savoie and Benson are basically taking turns being “injured” and the timelines for both line up perfectly?

I don’t get why people are so concerned about “the Wenatchee situation”. What’s the situation exactly? Everything there should be pretty normal now, no?

I’m not talking about the penalty kill though…….. 2005 4C was Gaustad. The wingers were not that consistent. None of the lines were particularly consistent. Ruff shifted guys a lot. They also had Drury who would do a lot of that heavy lifting defensively.